


stay awake

by melliesgrant



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: M/M, eddie loses his arm, he lives!!, richie tries to keep him alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:54:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melliesgrant/pseuds/melliesgrant
Summary: eddie loses his arm and richie will do anything to keep him alive





	stay awake

**Author's Note:**

> okay this is very bad i barely had any muse while writing this and i had to force myself to write it, so just warning you that you're going into a literal pile of flaming shit but ?? idk i hope u like it anyway ?? thanks

down in the dank sewers for the (hopefully) last time that summer, richie had never been more terrified in his entire life. not in neibolt, not when he had that paul bunyan nightmare, not when IT popped out of the projector, it was now. it was now with his feet soaked with grey water, stan with blood dripping on the sides of his face, and  georgie on the floor missing an arm and an invisible bullet in his face.

this was a day that would change his life forever, he could already tell, especially considering he didn’t even know if he’d make it out tonight. a bat in his hand was all he had to defend himself, beating at the tufts of red hair and fair skin alongside his friends, the sight of those sharp teeth and imagining it biting into him would haunt his dream that night (if he made it). he hoped this was going to have a happy ending, where they all walk out with only mental scars, but all alive having defeated a monster. he couldn’t imagine it going any other way, he wouldn’t, because how could he go on after such a tragedy?

yet he didn’t have to worry about that right now, feeling a sense of accomplishment as he watched the creature begin to move away in defeat. he watched the creature slither away, stopping his beatings with his friends, ready to cheer for their win. he had already begun, turning to his right to bill, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. “we did it, billy, we did it. it’s gone, we beat that mother fucker and sent him back to the fucking gutters!” he was on a rush of adrenaline, his body shaking out of fear and excitement and everything in between.

this rush of adrenaline was loud, he could hear his blood and his heart beat pump in his ears, making everything else in the world come out muffled. he felt dizzy and lightheaded, everything was too much, the fear and happiness and everything a boy his age shouldn’t feel all at once taking a toll on him. yet he couldn’t care, he was glad it was seemingly done, and as he watched bill’s lips move but not hear anything he wasn’t worried. his heart was all he could hear, and the only thing that cut through that noise was a shriek in the air that brought him back to reality.

he turned his head towards the noise, and what he saw made him feel even worse. the world felt slow, everything moved slowly, he felt like he was on drugs and he couldn’t process the world properly. he turned and saw eddie. he saw his eddie, his boy on the floor, yet he was missing. he was missing an arm. where it should be was where blood poured out, spilling onto the floor into a pool around him, some squirting out in different directions as eddie screamed and screamed. 

richie ran to him as fast as he could, yet he wasn’t sure how that was. this changed everything, his heart pumped with fear and he could feel his body shaking. he could see it shaking too, as he dropped himself into the pool of eddie’s blood, his knees now wet with it, and moved his hands around eddie’s form unsure what to do. he could see his hands shaking uncontrollably, unsure what to do with them, only stopping once eddie’s only arm grabbed them.

“richie.” it was muffled, almost muted, and richie squeezed eddie’s hand and took his other to grab his face.  


“sh, don’t talk eds. don’t talk, save your energy.” he went into something he didn’t even know he had, a nurturing side, a caring one saved for his boy who was seemingly dying on the ground of the sewers with his arm taken down a hole with an evil clown.  


he watched eddie carefully, seeing the boy’s eyelids open and close slowly, recognizing the signs of exhaustion, and more recognizing the signs of danger for eddie. he was bleeding out, that was obvious as their clothes were drenched in his blood and he was so pale you could see his veins on his face and his final arm. richie, with his hand still holding eddie’s face, shook it vigorously. he shook until eddie opened his eyes again, looking at him, and they looked so empty richie could feel his heart break. **“i know this hurts, but you have to stay awake.”**

eddie’s lips moved so as to say something, but nothing came out as his eyes struggled to stay open. richie moves his hands into the boys hair, doing anything he can do to make the suffering boy comfortable but also keep him awake. he wants to help but he doesn’t know how, all he knows is eddie can’t die. he can’t die in the sewers, he can’t die at thirteen, he can’t die before richie can ask him on a date. he needs to get him out of here, rush him to the hospital before he completely bleeds out. 

“someone, help me pick him up. we have to get him to his mom, she’ll take him to the hospital. come on, help.” he was feeling that adrenaline once more, but in the worst way possible. he was anxious, forcing himself to move up and try to pick up the boy, feeling weaker than ever.   


“richie, he’s dying, there’s nothing we can do.” he heard someone say, maybe it was ben, he wasn’t sure.  


richie shook his head vigorously, doing everything he could to try and pick the boy up, even resorting to dragging the half awake boy. “for fuck’s sake someone help me! if he’s dead or not we can’t leave him here, so one of you better help me pick him up and try to save him!” he yelled, not looking anywhere but eddie, but hearing footsteps near and the weight of the boy be less as the others helped him.

mike had eddie on one side, richie the other, and it looked like everyone else tried to hold onto something to help. usually it was eddie who helped them get out of situations like this, when they were lost in places with constant twists and turns, but now he couldn’t and they all had to try and decide what turns to make. left or right, up or down, everything in the derry sewers was a mystery none of them wanted to solve.

they carried him out, unsure how long it took them to get out of the darkness of it’s heart and into the light the sun gave on their dark town. richie didn’t care, he was just glad they made it, and he moved quicker and quicker to try and move eddie to his mothers house. 

“eds, are you still with me?” richie asked, looking down to eddie for the first time since they started to carry him, his heart beating out of fear that the boy would be dead in his arms.   


yet a noise found its way out of eddie’s lips, no words but a noise, a sign that his heart was still going and he just might make it. this gave richie more incentive, as he began to yell at the other losers to move faster, they didn’t have time to waste. the kaspbrak house was on the way from neibolt, maybe ten minutes away, but five if they rushed (which they were).

when they finally made it to the kaspbrak residence richie let go of eddie, thankful he had support from the others, and ran to the door. he pounded on it until his fist hurt, and didn’t even stop then, only stopping once mrs. kaspbrak opened the door. she opened it with a glare in the direction of her sons friend, the bad influence, and was about to shoo him away. this was all on the tip of her tongue, but richie spoke first. “eddie lost his arm and he’s bleeding out and he needs to go to the hospital.” it came out rushed and hard to understand, but when she looked over and saw her little boy missing an arm she had never ran so fast in his life. she didn’t even have time to yell at them, because she grabbed her son and got in the car before anyone could say another word, driving away and leaving the kids in the dust.

richie had never felt more guilty and worried in his entire life, and if eddie died he didn’t know how he could go on.

* * *

 

a week goes by and the only thing holding richie and the losers club over is knowing eddie miraculously made it. everyone in the hospital was shocked that he did, considering the amount of blood he lost and how long it took for him to even get to the hospital, had it been any other scenario he would have been as sure as dead in an instant. the doctors claim it was a miracle, that whatever god was out there must have had great things planned for edward kaspbrak, because that’s the only explanation they can find for him surviving.

the most stressful aspect of this to the losers was the questions from the authorities about how he had gotten his arm bitten off, especially so cleanly. it was a perfect cut, and the bite marks around it make question after question appear. the losers claimed they found him like that, and anything eddie said they chocked down to him being in shock or delusional. it seemed the mysterious loss of eddie kaspbrak’s arm would be another great mystery for derry, but one the rest of the world would be oblivious to or just not care for.

they were all anxious to visit him, richie especially, and yet for the past week they had not been allowed in. a mixture of sonia kaspbrak refusing to allow them in, and the doctors claiming he was still too frail for so much excitement of having his friends visit. they still tried every day, bringing flowers and teddy bears and his favorite movies to distract him, but every day they got sent away. they never stopped trying, and they insisted a nurse bring their gifts into eddie’s room. if the nurse brought it in before mrs. kaspbrak could get in they usually stayed in the room, the few moments eddie was lucid he asked for them to stay, but if not sonia kaspbrak would throw them away before he could see and get any ideas that his group of friends were any good. if she had her way he would never see those miscreants again, but the universe had other plans.

* * *

 

after weeks of healing eddie was finally in a state of consciousness like a regular human being, and his doctors and nurses agreed he was now allowed visitors outside of family. his mother objected, and she objected loudly, but a doctors orders went over her and nothing could stop his friends from visiting. 

they all came with gifts after gifts, toys to keep him company when they were gone and flowers to fill the room with beautiful scents. he had never been happier than now, finally seeing his friends after weeks of missing them. there they all were, and since the accident he finally felt comfortable. they all bear-hugged him, only stopping at his remark of “ow.” and realizing they have to be gentle.

they were all so happy, and yet no one wanted to acknowledge the elephant in the room, or rather they didn’t know how. eddie was sitting on a hospital bed, pale and skinny and sickly, and where one arm once was is now a sewn up stump. they all gave it a glance, but refused to stare so as not to be rude, unsure how to handle the situation.

“it’s okay to stare, or talk about it, or ask me about it. we can’t ignore it. my arms gone, nothing to do about it now.” eddie finally spoke out, his voice soft and quiet and shook them all to their core. they all felt a nurturing side of them come out, every single one making their way to eddie to comfort and hold him and distract him from his loss.  


things got better from there, and even though they were in a hospital room they were all the same. they were all children sitting with their best friends, making jokes and having fun, forgetting all the troubles of their world for a few minutes. bev told eddie about how she punched greta last week for calling her a slut again, and stan was telling him when he was able to how his parents were going to let them all sleepover. eddie was so excited to get out of that bed, try to make his life as normal as possible again, and even though he knew it would never be the same he was ready to do everything he could to overcome the loss of an arm and live his life to the fullest. plenty of people had done it before, and plenty will.

they all slowly drizzled out, each one by one going home until all that was left was eddie and richie. this was the quietest richie had ever been, eddie thought so at least, and he was surprised to see him still there. before he could say anything richie moved into the hospital bed with him, and eddie scooted over to make room.

richie wrapped his arms around him and moved his head into eddie’s shoulder, just holding him there. “i was so worried.” he spoke into his collar bone, finally moving to look at eddie’s shocked face. “i was so worried you’d die on me, that i would never see you again. i’m so glad you’re alive, i couldn’t lose my best friend.” it was a rare moment of richie being genuine for once, and eddie almost didn’t know what to say. 

“and it’s a good thing you’re better now because for a while there your mom was too depressed to fuck me.” there was the richie eddie knew. 

“shut up, trashmouth.” eddie laughed at a joke he would hate in any other circumstance, but just glad to be here and alive and with richie.   


“oh, you love it eds. well i was thinking, when you’re out of here and allowed to go home let’s go out. just us two, go to the aladdin get some milkshakes. i’ll pay.” richie offered, wrapping an arm around eddie’s shoulder.  


eddie, confused as ever, felt heat rush to his cheeks and knew his pale skin was now getting some color from his blush. “i’d like that.”

and the rest was history.


End file.
